How Did Imperialism Affect Western African Culture

When people think of Western Africa, they think of tribal and barbaric practices. They think of illiteracy and an unsophisticated society. This may have been true back before Europeans came into Western Africa, but from the 1800s, imperialism changed the ways of Western African society. Some might wonder why imperialism even came to Western Africa in the first place. It started in Belgium. The King of Belgium, King Leopold II, wanted to have control over foreign areas such as other European countries in the 1800s. He sent men and his military to the Congo area of Western Africa because of its resources such as diamonds, copper, and coal. Although King Leopold II never entered African himself, his military enforced their values and imperialism onto the Africans. A Western African author who grew up in the Igbo tribe of Africa, wrote a historical fiction story about the

Achebe set out to write the story of Okonkwo to help other understand the effects of Imperialism on Western Africa by using the Igbo tribe as an example. Chinua Achebe’s historical fiction novel “Things Fall Apart” and historical evidence from the 1800s shows that imperialism had a significant negative impact on Western African tribes’ political and cultural identity. Imperialism had a negative effect on the political identity of the Igbo tribe which is proven by Chinua Achebe’s writing and historical evidence. To show the negative impact imperialism has on the political identity of the Igbo tribe, Chinua Achebe writes, “... he carried a strong stick, and he hit each man a few blows on the head and back… Okonkwo was choked with hate” (Adeche 195). The author conveys that the power dynamic has changed in a negative way between the white men and the Igbo by writing, “he hit each man a few blows on the head and back” and writing, “Okonkwo was choked